Putnam (January 14, 1923 – October 5, 1986) was an American historian who specialized in Russian history.
Putnam graduated in 1951 from Wesleyan University and earned a master's degree in French history and, in 1961, a doctorate in Russian history from Harvard University.
His dissertation was The Russian non-revolutionary intelligentsia evaluates its relation to the Russian folk (1900-1910).
He became a professor of history at Case Western Reserve University, Louisiana State University, and the University of Missouri–St.
Louis.He was the author of the book Russian Alternatives to Marxism: Christian Socialism and Idealistic Liberalism in Twentieth Century Russia (1977).